A month after the Nürburgring 24 hours, the teams in the German VLN Endurance Championship returned to the majestic Nordschleife circuit today to compete in the four hour ADAC ACAS H&R-Cup.
Felipe Fernandez Laser and Lance David Arnold partnered to take their first win together in the Frikadelli Racing Porsche 911GT3 R . It was a strong race performance from the team. Laser headed qualifying for much of the session before an accident. The team did an impressive job to repair the car in time to take to the starting grid and then both drivers showed strong and consistent race pace.
The Phoenix Audi R8 in second place may be a very different car to the winning 911 GT3 – but it had one thing in common – the team’s choice of Dunlop tyres. Indeed, it was a successful weekend for customers on Dunlop tyres. Five of the Top Ten finishers and the class winners in SP7 (Uwe Alzen – Porsche 911 ) and SP8 ( Racing One – Ferrari 458) also chose Dunlop.
For Dunlop and Porsche it was a historic moment. It is Porsche’s 70th and Dunlop’s 130th anniversary. It is also 35 years after the two companies partnered to set the outright lap record at the Nordschleife, when the late Stefan Bellof used his talent and skill in the Porsche 956 Group C car to set a landmark that still stands today. Since then, Dunlop became the leading tyre manufacturer in the 24h race, and was chosen by the winners of the 2017 marathon.
Frikadelli chose Dunlop for their Porsches after back to back testing in 2017. “After last year’s 24-hour race we started working for 2018”, said Frikadelli team principal Klaus Abbelen. “Tyres are one of the critical components in motor racing, and even more so on the daunting Nürburgring Nordschleife”
Dunlop Teams used soft and medium compounds of the VLN 2018 Specifications. Alexander Kühn, Dunlop’s European Motorsport Product Manager stated: “We are very happy with the race performance of our teams this Weekend. We were able to push in the typical cool Nürburgring conditions and fight for the overall victory. We showed a strong performance on different chassis and classes. Congratulations to all winners on Dunlop”
The close development work between Porsche and Dunlop continues on the road as well as the racetrack. Dunlop’s latest generation Sport Maxx Race 2 has been developed together with Porsche in order to meet the demanding requirements for the new 911 GT3 and GT2 RS. With the first-generation Sport Maxx Race tires fitted on the previous model of the GT3, Dunlop continues its offering of specialist tyres for Porsche vehicles.
AUTOMOTIVE
